


and the rain keeps coming down

by tousled



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Developing Friendships, Domestic, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, rtte
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:00:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22586011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tousled/pseuds/tousled
Summary: The twins told them all it was going to rain.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 35





	and the rain keeps coming down

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spacenintendogs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacenintendogs/gifts).



> title from now I’m in it by haim but the song has nothing to do with this fic. 
> 
> I honestly felt so clunky and rusty writing this :/ rip me ...... gotta write more. 
> 
> Ily rose hope u like tho

Rain. 

Before the day had officially started, over bowls of warmed milled oats and milk, the twins had told everyone it was going to rain. Tuff had thrown his arms around dramatically, empathise for  _ thunder  _ and  _ lightning,  _ and probably hail about the size of Chicken’s eggs. Out the club room doorway the sky was periwinkle blue, not even the tiniest, happiest puff of a cloud in sight. The others had laughed, Snotlout accidentally dropping his spoon in his oats, some of the milk splashing up in his face, setting off another round of laughter. 

Still, when Hiccup had tried to assign himself as Astrid’s chore partner at the detriment of Fishlegs’ foraging, she stopped everyone and mentioned the twins’ prediction. They’re wild, and don’t make sense and sometimes repeat the same thing over and over expecting different results but if there’s anything she’s learnt at The Edge it’s to trust their guts. It got her another round of laughter, but also Ruff’s sharp appreciative look and a smile so big it took up the entirety of Tuff’s face. 

They’re not laughing now, flying blind back to the Edge, soaked to the bone. Astrid’s hair is plastered to her forehead, water streaming over her face. She can barely see the others, the red of Hookfang to her left and a burst of green to her right, but Toothless and Meatlug either blend into the stormy skies or are too far away. Cupping her hands around her mouth to amplify the noise she lets out a loud whoop. 

“We’ve got to land.” She yells, unsure if anyone can hear her over the thunderous noise of rain hitting the ocean. If she’s not been turned around in the storm there’s an island nearby, clear of any large dragons that might be troublesome. No one seems to respond, the burst of red of Snotlout and Hookfang getting further away. Dropping low to Stormfly’s back she directs her to fly close towards Barf and Belch. When Ruff spots her, she waves, as drenched as Astrid is. Astrid waves back, and then tries out a few hand signals when Ruff doesn’t respond to a shout. 

The hand signals haven’t been fully worked out yet, Fishlegs and Hiccup have mostly been trying it between the both of them. Still, Astrid hopes they make sense, and whether or not the twins  _ do  _ understand they peel off from their original course, Astrid on their tails. Either she was right, or Barf and Belch are just good at island finding because it’s only five minutes before they hit land, and a beach with a cliff riddled with caves. They’ve lost the others, but when the storm’s past they’ll go looking for them. 

They pick the first cave they find, huddling under the overhang, 

“Find some wood, anything will do, it’s all going to be wet,” Astrid orders, voice calm. The twins respond better when you’re soft with them. “I’ll check the cave and if there’s nothing hiding in here we can make camp.”

“Why do we get the shitty job?” Tuff whines, teeth chattering. 

“You want to deal with an angry monstrous nightmare or a cavern crusher?” Astrid replies, trying not to laugh as Tuff pales even more. He throws up a salute and steps back out into the rain. 

Astrid takes a flint and a pre-wrapped torch out of her leather satchel and steps into the cave. She carefully lights the fabric of the torch, letting it catch fully alight before waving it around to chase away shadows. The cave twists to the right after a few paces, wide enough that Stormfly seems dwarfed and ends without fanfare after another twist. Astrid checks every nook and cranny, but other than a few slow moving lizards and a cave cricket that’s definitely going to scare Tuff if he sees it they’re home free. She takes a deep breath and walks back to the entrance. 

The twins aren’t long, handfuls of logs and kindling and if anyone else was here they’d be surprised. Astrid just nods, drawing them further into the cave where it’s the widest and all of them, dragons included, should be able to sit comfortably. The twins aren’t useless, 

“There’s a couple of broken trees not far from here,” Ruff reports, lazily like she’s expecting Astrid to make something of it.

“That’s good, did you two want to stay and build a fire pit?” Astrid offers. She’ll be faster at any rate, and Tuff’s looking a little blue. “Put some rocks in a circle and start piling the wood up. Get Stormfly to warm the wood before setting fire to it.” 

“I’ll help you,” Ruff says, and leaves no room for an argument. Astrid wouldn’t have. 

“I’m gonna make a triangle.” Tuff says, teeth chattering. Astrid can’t help her smile. Of course. The other week Fishlegs had told the gang about how triangles were the strongest shape, and Tuff had nodded like he was going to forget it straight away.

The rain is too heavy to speak, so Astrid just follows Ruff to the broken trees, picking up the pieces they can carry. They do multiple trips, bringing in enough wood to last days, Stormfly’s magnesium blast at the cave entrance to warm the wood up, water evaporating in big clouds of steam as it dries off. Eventually, when Astrid’s happy Ruff washes her helmet out in the rain and fills it up with water. Tuff’s been building a frame and the helmet sits easily over the top of the fire. Astrid watches curiously as she fills up their flasks with the rain water, Tuff pulling out a pouch of bits of twigs and leaves and Ruff a pack of rations. They stir things together, bickering over the use of one kind of sprig, and produce a stew that’s the best thing Astrid’s tasted since she last had her mama’s cooking. 

She opens her mouth to call them out, the salt encrusted cod a very obvious ploy now, but then decides against it. She’ll keep their secret, if not just to keep getting the rewards of it. Ruff looks at her, scrutinising but says nothing also. 

“Whenever it’s over,” Astrid says, a glance towards the mouth of the cave, “we can look for the others. I tried to get them to stop, but you know how they are.” 

“Stubborn.” Tuff replies, taking a swig of his flask. 

“Bullheaded.” Ruff agrees. Astrid smiles, belly full and content even for the worry that’s in her gut and throat. 

“Stupid.” She adds. Tuff snorts, but they fall into a comfortable silence, each side of the triangular fire, warming up slowly. Tuff’s teeth have stopped chattering so that’s worth something. 

“We told Hiccup,” Ruff starts, breaking the quiet and Astrid reaches over to put a hand on her shoulder. 

“I know.” She says. She  _ knows.  _ It’s one thing, telling Hiccup, it’s another expecting him to change his wants. 

“Hiccup said we were making it up.” Tuff adds, like maybe Astrid doesn’t know. She wishes she had a towel, or  _ something _ . His braids must weigh a tonne right now, must be soaked. 

“I believed you.” Astrid says. She means it as nothing more than a fact but Tuff looks at her like it’s a benediction. She looks away. “It doesn’t matter, I still agreed to the day’s plan.” 

“You did.” Ruff agrees, layers to her voice. Astrid wants to tell her it doesn’t matter  _ she’s  _ Astrid, that she’s the girl Hiccup looks at with hearts in his eyes. Ruff, with all her complaints, thinks too highly of her. 

“Do either of you have a towel?” Astrid changes the topic, looking over at Tuff’s wet braids again. She probably has a brush of some sort in a saddle bag. In a pinch she could use her 

“No,” Tuff says, sadly. He holds his lamb’s wool jacket up, making an even sadder face. Astrid reaches over to take it from him, draping it over a large log next to the fire. 

“Just a face towel,” Ruff shrugs, letting the previous conversation go. A month ago, Astrid would be preparing herself for a fight. She’s so infinitely glad the twins  _ like _ her now. 

“Oh, that’ll be fine.” Astrid smiles. “Tuff’s braids must have a tonne of water in them, and he’ll catch a head cold if they don’t dry.” 

Ruff gets the towel, which ends up being a set of four and Tuff preens under the attention, helping unbraid his hair for Astrid and Ruff to comb out as much water as possible and then use the face towels and the warmth of the fire to dry his hair in batches, twisting it the strands back up into new braids. Once they finally finish, towels rotated tens of times, Astrid’s sleeves accidentally soaked again she reaches over to tug Ruff in, and begrudgingly Ruff lets them help dry out her hair too. 

“Don’t think you’re getting out of this,” Ruff says. Astrid’s hair is at least a third of the twin’s and is mostly dry from the fire and the warmth already but she lets them repay the favour. It’s nice, the attention. Tuff’s very gentle with the comb and Ruff is thorough and Astrid understands why Tuff was almost falling asleep under the attention. 

“I’ll take the first watch.” Astrid offers, stifling a yawn. Stormfly has settled by her side, purring under the stroke of her hand and she’s definitely not going last the entirety of the first watch. 

“Shut up.” Ruff says, and Astrid thinks that she’s glad for the excuse to spend the night with the twins. 

“I’m a light sleeper,” Tuff adds, like perhaps he’s also a quick fighter. Astrid looks over at the both of them and feels fond. 

“Alright,” she says, she agrees. She refuses Tuff’s lamb’s wool jumper, tucking it over his shoulders and leans up against Stormfly. 

  
  


The day may have started periwinkle blue with not even the idea of a cloud but the rain is probably the best thing that could have happened. Today was a wash out, and tomorrow will be a search mission but for now, it is a dream. 

  
  
  
  
  



End file.
